OVCR team helps researchers share data responsibly, meet funder requirements
Research today is more collaborative and data-driven than ever before, which strengthens science and creates new challenges. A strong data management strategy ensures that scientific integrity and regulatory requirements are met during research studies and provides opportunities to ethically share data and collaborate across teams.
The Office of Research Data Initiatives and Information (ORDI2) helps UIC researchers achieve these goals and meet new data sharing requirements from funding agencies. Since 2022, a team of researchers, librarians and graduate student assistants have supported over 100 research teams across campus in data management planning, advancing scholarship while assuring protection of participants and communities.
The team was formed in response to changes in federal, local, institutional and publishing policies. Most notably, in 2023 the National Institute of Health established new guidelines for grant applications, requiring researchers to submit a data management and sharing plan. This document must outline how their scientific data and any accompanying metadata will be managed and shared to help increase the accessibility of publicly funded research.
The ORDI2 team – comprised of Associate Vice Chancellor Andrew Boyd, ORDI2 Data Policy Advisor Abigail Goben and graduate assistants who dubbed themselves as the Data Squids – responded to the policy changes by creating a detailed, hands-on approach for helping researchers meet these new guidelines.
“This couldn’t be something where we said, ‘there’s a policy and you have to do it,’” said Goben. “Instead, it was ‘there’s a policy and here’s how we can help.’ And that was a different approach than some other institutions took.”
During grant-focused data management consultations, researchers meet with the team to share their goals and project outline, and in return, the ORDI2 team provides a personalized first draft of a data management plan. For many researchers, this is the first time they have had to submit a data management plan for NIH grants; ORDI2 ensures they have the tools they need to continue conducting world-class research.
“It often feels like each researcher is building their own plane to fly,” said Tina Grieco-Calub, a visiting associate professor at UIC who utilized ORDI2’s services. “The fact that there are centralized resources that we can use takes the burden off of us to have to come up with it on our own or figure it out for ourselves.”
“Abigail’s team saved me,” said Angel Scanzera, an assistant professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science. “It was a quick meeting with them, and they were able to help me understand what our resources are at UIC and what to do to make sure we are following the guidelines set forth by the NIH and the university.”
Sharing data across research projects reduces data duplication and encourages collaboration between researchers and use in educational settings. However, when data is not stored or shared carefully, it can lead to inaccurate results as well as legal, ethical and security concerns, especially when personal or identifying information is collected.
By constructing a data management plan, researchers can establish how they will share their data in a way that is ethical, meets the goals and intentions of the team, and protects the communities and groups the data is from.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with researchers about the value of their data,” said Goben. “They know it’s valuable, but we don’t always talk about the value of data reuse. How do you develop a culture of reuse? How do you develop a culture of giving credit to those whose data you’re using?”
“How data will be stored and shared with others is becoming a much bigger deal in science,” added Russell Pesavento, an assistant professor in the UIC College of Dentistry who has worked with ORDI2. “And with funding, if you get one of these larger grants, they want to know that that data is not just impacting your study, but science as a whole.”
As ORDI2 provides opportunities for UIC researchers to develop their grant proposals, it also provides graduate assistants with the chance to learn about the variety of research at UIC, build connections across disciplines and prepare for their future roles.
“If you're a research graduate assistant or master’s student who's interested in pursuing research, it was incredibly motivating to learn about all the different, very specific types of projects that people are doing,” said Rafa Gasymova, a former Data Squid who supported approximately 50 research teams and now works as a research specialist supporting data management at UIC’s Children’s Environmental Health Initiative. “I think it pushed me into thinking research is really what I want to do; I want to be this passionate about making the world a better place.”
Moving forward, ORDI2 hopes to continue elevating the conversation around data sharing and data management. The team continues to work with researchers and is developing resources and data management planning templates, including examples of former data management plans, for researchers to use as a guide.
“Having those conversations and talking about data as its own scholarly object has been really useful across disciplines,” said Goben.
“I think everyone should know about [ORDI2] so that when they’re planning, they can meet with them earlier and have a better understanding of what resources are available within the university and what the requirements are,” said Scanzera.
For additional information about ORDI2 and data management, visit their website.